Yankees See Alex Rodriguez as a Starter, as Long as He Earns It

Less than 24 hours after his team’s final game of 2014, Manager Joe Girardi returned to Yankee Stadium on Monday and addressed questions about the failures of the season and the preparations for 2015.

Not surprisingly, a main topic was Alex Rodriguez. The Derek Jeter era had only just ended, and it already felt as if the Rodriguez era had begun.

Girardi said the Yankees expected Rodriguez to be their third baseman in 2015, but he also said it was a position Rodriguez must earn.

“He hasn’t played in a year,” Girardi said. “That’s not easy to do. I’ve got to see where he’s physically at, see from a playing standpoint where he’s at. Do we expect him to be a player on our team? Absolutely. Do we expect him to play third base? Yes. But in fairness, I think you have to see where he’s at.”

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Manager Joe Girardi spoke to reporters at Yankee Stadium on Monday.CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times

Rodriguez is in the final month of a season-long suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, which ends the day after the World Series. He has been working out, but Girardi said that until the Yankees saw Rodriguez playing in spring training games, they would not know if he could be an everyday player.

Could that mean that Rodriguez, who is owed a minimum of $61 million over the next three years, barring a buyout or a medical dispensation, would be a bench player?

“Hey, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen,” Girardi said. “But we expect him to be our third baseman.”

Girardi also said the Yankees had not spoken to Rodriguez about the possibility of playing first base. But he said he had texted with Rodriguez once or twice a month since the season began, just to check in on him.

There will be a great deal of attention placed on Rodriguez as he tries to come back, and some of it will be negative. But Girardi said that if anyone was capable of handling that, and perhaps thriving on it, it was Rodriguez.

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Derek Jeter spoke to the media after playing the final game of his career at Yankee Stadium.Published OnSept. 26, 2014CreditCreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

“I have a good relationship with Alex,” Girardi said. “Our teammates enjoy Alex, his presence in the clubhouse, the way he likes to teach the game and talk about the game. I don’t think that will be an issue. Will he have to deal with some angry fans? Yeah, but we’ll help him get through that. When was the last time that Alex hasn’t had to deal with that? So it’s not like it’s something he’s not used to. Sometimes players thrive on that, so maybe it will help him.”

If Rodriguez is capable of hitting at all, the Yankees want him. Their offense was terrible, the primary reason Girardi was giving a postmortem news conference Monday instead of announcing his starting rotation for the playoffs.

The Yankees scored only 633 runs. Yes, offense has declined over all in baseball, but the Yankees may have suffered a greater decline than most teams, in part because of defensive infield shifts against them, which have proved torturous to Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann, who hit in the middle of the batting order. Their batting averages have declined in the past few years, and much of that can be attributed to shifts.

Girardi said the Yankees would address ways to beat the shifts.

“Will it be something we work on in spring training?” he said. “Yes, it will be.”

Asked about the coaching staff, Girardi was vague, saying the coaches would be evaluated, including himself. He said he saw the same approach and quality of work from Kevin Long, the hitting instructor, as he did when Long presided over an offense that scored 915 runs in 2009.

“I really still believe that there’s enough talent in that room, when you put all the pieces on the field, to score runs,” Girardi said. “We didn’t do it enough this year; I understand that. But I still believe there is enough talent in that room. Time is going to tell. We’ll have 150 days to think about it, and then about 45 days to get ready. And then we’re going to find out.”